LA CELEBRAZIONE DELLE GESTA ATLETICHE NELLA POESIA IMMATERIALE E NELLA POESIA EPIGRAFICA: ERGOTELE DI IMERA TRA PIND. OL. 12 E CEG 393

Abstract

This paper deals with the memorialization of agonistic victories both in epinician poetry and in epigrams
on monuments by victorious athletes and specifically by Ergoteles of Himera. Ergoteles, originally a citizen
from Cnossos, settled in Himera after Theron resettled the polis (ca. 476/475 BCE) and achieved several
victories in the Panhellenic games. He memorialized them as a citizen of Himera, through a victory ode
(Pind. Ol. 12) and an agonistic epigram set up in Olympia (CEG 393), this latter in Doric dialect and Ionian
“Milesian” alphabet. This paper analyzes the stylistic and visual features of the epigram commissioned by
Ergoteles and argues that the Ionian “Milesian” alphabet was deliberately chosen because felt as supranational
and therefore appropriate for display in a Panhellenic sanctuary.